


Breaking Point

by I_am_a_Ruin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ballet, Angst, Anorexia, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bulimia, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Dance School, Eating Disorders, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Good Lotor (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Jealous Lance (Voltron), M/M, Mutual Pining, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, ballet academy, hunk is the mom friend, keith is a natural, lance's family is really supportive, pidge is a natural
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2019-10-21 11:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_a_Ruin/pseuds/I_am_a_Ruin
Summary: Lance has been dancing ever since he was small. His whole life he's had to work harder than anyone else in his class, but he won't let that stop him. Not even when ballet prodigy Keith Kogane transfers to his school. However, he may push himself too far.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Please fully read the tags, don't skim. There are trigger warnings there so prepare yourselves. I don't know how much I'll work on this one and I definitely went overboard on the tags but I am a huge fan on ballet so I won't drop it or anything. This will just be a bit of a back burner fic.  
> Please let me know if I missed an important tag.

Lance had been dancing since he could move. His ever-proud mamá had filmed all of it and liked to show off childhood home videos of him wiggling around to any beat with all of his little heart. From the moment he could talk in coherent sentences, all he babbled about was dancing. His family never understood it, and his older brothers liked to tease him about it, but they all supported him. 

His mamá bought him films of different ballets. Melodies from  _ Swan Lake _ filled his head while he obsessed over Carlos Acosta, a Cuban dancer that made it big. At six, he was memorizing dance moves Carlos did and trying to replicate them in his bedroom. At seven, his mamá enrolled him in a few ballet classes. 

Kids at school didn’t understand why he loved to dance so much, but it never really bothered him. His family loved and encouraged him so it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. Veronica even took time out of every day to help him practice for recitals so he would stay caught up with other kids that had the kind of money for private lessons. 

Moving to America wasn’t as amazing as his parents said it would be. Lance could barely follow his teachers and it made him a laughing stock in the only place he felt safe: his dance classes. He knew all the move names but the other instructions that weren’t a common language made him feel lost and off balance. He was constantly  _ just  _ off step with the others. The only reassurance was that his siblings were struggling just as much in their classes.

His parents were having a harder time finding proper jobs than they originally thought. They tried to hide it, but Lance heard them arguing about it while everyone was supposed to be sleeping. 

Dance classes were expensive and Lance knew it; he wasn’t stupid even though all his classmates thought so. He tried to tell his mamá he’d quit so they wouldn’t have to worry as much about money, but she wouldn’t hear of it. 

So he did the next best thing. He decided to be the absolute best in his class. He practiced twice as much as before. Marco and Veronica read him his homework in English so they could all practice and he could study while still practicing new moves. 

He was twelve when he started thinking about weight. It happened so gradually, Lance didn’t even notice the thoughts consuming him. He wasn’t even sure why he started in the first place. One night after dinner, he found himself in the bathroom forcing himself to throw up. Maybe it was stress. Maybe the conversation between a couple older ballerinas he’d overheard had messed with his head. It didn’t matter. The idea had taken root in his mind.

His mamá bought healthier food for him per his request. He even enjoyed the time in the kitchen he’d spend with her chopping up vegetables for his daily salad while she made dinner. He just hated to see how tired she looked. Even after so many years in America, it was hard for her to find a decent job. Lance took to spending all his evenings with her in the kitchen, helping her learn more English so that maybe one day she could get a job that wasn’t exhausting and demeaning. And if it soothed him getting to see every ingredient being put into the meal so he could tally up calories later, what was the harm in that?

They moved again when Lance was fifteen so he could attend a proper dance school, his siblings could get a better education, and his parents could get higher paying jobs. Lance got a job to at a dance store a block away from his house. He liked it there because he got discounts on articles like tights and shoes. Not to mention he could help cover the cost of his ballet classes and his parents could focus on their bills and the costs of living. 

Hunk, the only friend he’d really made at school, helped him babysit little Luis so Lance could work. Hunk was an actual angel. And besides, Lance repaid him by helping Hunk catch up technically so Miss Brooks would lay off him a little in class.

Hunk and Lance went to the gym every Saturday afternoon when Lance got off work. That’s where they met Pidge. Lance could tell immediately she was a dancer like them, probably just below age for the school. She and Hunk got along swimmingly and she seemed to tolerate Lance. So she joined their Saturday routine.

Things were going so well. That’s what Lance got: one especially good year at sixteen.

Seventeen was the year things went downhill.

****

Pidge was nervous even though she looked unwilling to admit it. Lance could see it in the way her eyebrows were turned down behind her glasses. 

She’d grown her hair out over the summer so it’d be long enough to tie up for class. Miss Brooks was very strict about neat, perfect hair. Lance knew she hated the length, but he admired her dedication to not getting off the wrong foot.

“Hold still just a minute longer.” Lance insisted, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her back straight so he didn’t have to lean over so much. His hands went back to rolling her hair up.

“You’re a sadist asshole, I hope you know that,” Pidge grumbled as he pulled it tighter so it would be completely smooth.

“Hey, you’re the one that asked me to do your hair. This is the only way to get it right.” Lance tied the finished product and stepped back to admire his handiwork. Once he was sure it would stay put, he fished his hair spray from his duffel and began showering her hair in the product. 

“Alrighty, you’re good to go! Remember to warm up and don’t get too intimidated by Madam Zarkon. She’s short-tempered but not terrible if you get on her good graces. You passed auditions, you  _ deserve  _ to be here. Oh, and Hunk said to break a leg on your first day. He’s very sorry he can’t be here but he had to run his little sister to school.” Lance explained as he waltzed in front of her to notify her she could now stand.

She rolled her eyes as she gathered her belongings, “I know, I know. Stop big brother-ing me. The one I have is plenty, thanks. Oh, and tell Hunk thanks.”

Lance leaned against the wall and watched proudly as she ran off to her first class. She was going to be great. Hunk and he had been training with her all summer. She knew what to expect. 

His gaze flicked up to the clock above the vending machine once Pidge was out of sight. Twenty before class. Hunk wanted to meet him in the locker rooms. Apparently he had big news. 

Lance knelt down and stuffed his things back into his duffel before shouldering it and making his way to the locker rooms. 

Hunk was there when he arrived, already slipping on his shoes. 

“So what’s this news you couldn’t tell me over the phone?” Lance inquired as he slid his duffel into his cubby. 

“Well, I could have told you over the phone, but I didn’t know everything then.” Hunk explained, standing. “I knew we were getting an exchange student this year, but I knew nothing about him. Apparently his name is Keith Kogane and-”

“ _ You’re kidding!”  _ Lance hissed, already whipping his head around to try and spot the familiar mullet in the locker room.

“What, you know him?” Hunk sounded surprised.

“ _ Know him?  _ How do you not know him? He’s like… a prodigy. What’s he doing in America?” Lance asked, giving up his search once he realized Keith wasn’t there.

“I told you, exchange. I guess he traded with Griffin for the year.” 

Lance felt sick. James Griffin had been one of Lance’s pretty serious rivals last year. The two never got on, but Lance managed to stay top of the class almost the entire time so it hadn’t been too much of an issue. Rubbing his face, Lance tried to think of some kind of response that wouldn’t clue Hunk in on how stressed he was. “I didn’t, um, know Griffin spoke Japanese.”

“Okay, why don’t you look more excited? I thought you’d be elated Griffin was gone. You hate that guy.” Hunk frowned. Damn Hunk and his insightfulness. 

“Did you hear me say the word prodigy? As in, Keith is one of the naturals. No, he’s… supernatural. You’ve never seen the guy dance. I traded in a rival I hate for someone I admire that’s going to make me look like a child, Hunk!” Lance said defeatedly as they began walking towards their classroom.

“Garrett, you have got to tell me what you did to wipe the smile of this guy’s face!” James. That was his voice, and his arm slinging over Hunk’s shoulders.

“James? I thought you-” Lance looked to Hunk in confusion.

Hunk shrugged. “Hey, my sources aren’t perfect.”

“Oh! You heard the rumor Kogane and I switched places, huh? Didn’t think you’d be so glum about me leaving. Nah, there was no exchange. Kogane is just that good. He won some huge competition apparently that meant he’d be able to choose any school in the world to finish his schooling.” James explained, removing his arm from Hunk’s shoulder to gesture while he spoke.

“And he chose America?” Lance said, still dumbfounded. One of his idols was here in America. And now Lance was going to be competing with him all year. Keith was going to for sure get the solo this year. This was very bad. He really needed the scholarship money.

“Guess so. See you losers in class.” James said with a final shrug before turning back to get changed. 

****

Keith was every bit as intimidating as Lance had been anticipating. Apparently the closed off expression wasn’t just a stage face. His long hair was tied up in a high pony, messy bangs in his eyes and making them appear darker as they scanned the room. 

If not for the circumstances, Lance would be fawning all over him. Lance was a pretty big fan of his. It was actually quite surprising that Hunk didn’t remember how much Lance talked about him last year. Though, to be fair, Lance did talk about a lot of dancers.

“Class, we have a new student this year. I expect all of you to be welcoming and help him adjust,” Miss Brooks said from the front of the room. “His name is Keith Kogane. He transferred here from Japan.” 

Miss Brooks and Mister Smythe looked genuinely happy watching Keith dance in class. Even as top of his class, they still had plenty of criticisms for Lance: his lines needed to be straighter, his feet were sickled  _ again,  _ nothing was ever high enough... One thing after another. However, watching Keith dance, their teachers had nothing to correct. 

Lance felt something hot seething in his gut watching the boy dance. Where he used to feel awe, now he wanted to hit something. The worst part of it was that they had every right to be so amazed. Keith was not called a prodigy for nothing. His movement weren’t just technically perfect, they were artistic and graceful. Everything flowed beautifully. And just to rub it in, Keith made it look easy. 

Word was the only reason Keith was even still in school was because his adoptive family wouldn’t let him sign a contract until he was eighteen. There didn’t appear to be anything left to teach him, and Miss Brooks clearly agreed, if her expression was anything to go by.

“Careful, McClain. You glare any harder and you’ll bust a blood vessel. Then who’d be left for me to rival for second place?” James leaned over the barre to whisper into Lance’s ear smugly.

“Stuff it, Griffin.” Lance retorted, not tearing his eyes away. Maybe James would think Lance was just watching for his cue and leave him alone. 

James just snorted and went back to working his muscles while he waited his turn.

“Don’t let it get to you, Lance,” Hunk said sympathetically, getting into position as the first group finished their final moves. 

Lance shook his head, following suit as the melody looped back to the beginning. He knew these steps. It was nothing new, a variation they had worked on near the end of last year. Today, for some reason though, his legs were acting as though they’d never done the steps before. Muscle memory was failing him. His timing was completely wrong and he nearly ran into Hunk as Smythe stopped the music.

They looked less than pleased. Fury, in fact, might be an apt descriptor. 

“That is the kind of footwork I’d expect from a level three student, Mr. McClain. Please tell me you haven’t let this scholarship go to your head. If this is what we’ll be seeing from you all year, we might as well redistribute the money.” Miss Brooks snapped, arms crossed.

Lance knew she was embarrassed with this being the work of their best student in front of the new kid. After all, he was representing America and their teaching abilities but… he couldn’t help the shame that washed over him anyways. He lowered his head and concentrated his gaze on the floor. “No, of course not, Miss. I was just a bit… uh, distracted. It won’t happen again.”

“It had better not. Start again. And this time, keep your feet light, beautiful…” Miss Brooks trailed off, stepping out of the way as everyone went back to starting positions and the music picked up at the beginning once more.

At the end of class, Mister Smythe called Lance over. He waved Hunk off with a request that a seat be saved at lunch. By the time he joined his instructor, the man was engaged in a conversation with Keith.

“It’s so interesting to see a different style in this studio. I know everyone wants to say their country has the best techniques but… I just find the differences so intriguing. They’ve done quite well with you, Mr. Kogane.” 

Keith nodded like he was actually going to be humble now. Lance had to bite his tongue to keep from scoffing. What a suck up. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“Ah, Lance, m’boy. Have you officially met Keith yet?” Mister Smythe turned Lance’s direction and gestured to the other boy.

Lance squared his jaw and managed to give Keith a polite once over. “I have not.” 

“Keith, this is Lance McClain. He was top of his class last year. I was thinking you two could spend a few hours in the studio a week while you’re here. You could mentor Lance and he could help you adjust to things here.” 

What? Keith…  _ mentor  _ him? They might as well pour lemon juice into Lance’s wounds. Talk about adding insult to injury. 

****

“The other girls are pretty strong and… I swear I’m behind all of them. I never thought I’d be angry that puberty hasn’t hit yet but seriously, it’s going to ruin my chances this year.” Pidge sulked as she tore into her grilled chicken. 

They were sat at one of the circular tables in the academy’s cafeteria. Pidge was eating her meal aggressively, fork shredding her food like it had done her a personal wrong. Hunk never ate like that. He was a savorer. He ate slow, like he wanted to be able to figure out every ingredient in each bite. Lance was just rolling an apple around on the table, too annoyed to eat or bother with the rest of the food his mamá had packed that morning.. 

Hunk shook his head. “Trust me, they’re jealous of you. Have you actually looked at some of the most well-known principals?” 

“In a few years, being younger in appearance is going to do you serious favors. You’ve got a natural’s body. They’re ahead for now, but any lacking in technical perfections you can catch up on. There’s nothing they can do to alter their body types.” Lance pointed out. It was a fact he was all too aware of. He could put in all the studio time he wanted. He would never be a natural. Life could be really cruel like that.

“Tell that to Madam Zarkon. I’m never going to get on her good side. She hates me. My mother is going to kill me.” Pidge sighed. “Never mind, tell me about your day.” 

“Keith Kogane transferred here.” Lance was trying really hard to not sound glum, but his friends weren’t buying his act. Maybe he wasn’t trying too hard. Keith really pissed him off.

“Kogane… I know that name. Isn’t he the Shiroganes’ kid?” Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. I can’t believe I ever idolized the guy. He’s so… smug. You should have seen the way he was soaking up Miss Brook’s attention.” Lance snapped sourly, finally taking a bite out of his apple.

“I don’t think he’s that-” Hunk started with a small frown.

“Uh, Lance, right?” a voice asked, interrupting.

Lance glanced up over his shoulder to find Keith standing there with a plastic box cradled in his hands. “Yeah?”

“Do you mind if I join you guys?” Keith inquired, nodding at one of the open seats near Pidge. 

Lance opened his mouth to say absolutely not, but Hunk in his infuriating kindness towards everyone said, “Go right ahead!”

Lance shot his friend a look of betrayal as Keith sat down. Pidge covered up a loud snort by changing the conversation. 

“You’re Keith Kogane, right?” 

Keith nodded, popping the lid off his container. The asshole wasn’t even looking at her. 

“I’m Katie Holt, but if you call me that I’ll p-” 

“She goes by Pidge. And I’m Hunk Garrett.” Hunk cut off her threat, always the peacekeeper.

“Nice to meet everyone.” Keith greeted before lifting a clump of noodles to his mouth. 

“How’re you liking everything so far?” Hunk asked, but Lance could see Hunk was distracted by Keith’s meal. It was portioned by the container and Lance was at least ninety percent it was called a bento box. Hunk was probably trying to figure out what all was in it. That or he was just drooling over how amazing it looked. It smelled pretty awesome too, of course it did. It was a ton of carbs. 

“Oh, it’s kind of strange. Everything is so different here. A lot more classic than I’m used to,” Keith shrugged. “I’ll adjust though. Just need more practice with the basics.”

Lance choked on his water. Today was supposed to be  _ subpar?  _ Pidge offered her orange juice as Lance broke into a coughing fit trying to get air into his lungs and water out. He waved her off. Pidge didn’t share drinks so if he took it, he’d be expected to finish it. That was calories outside his meal plan. Besides, he was already calming back down so it’d be unnecessary. “You looked like you were doing just fine today.” Lance said when his lungs stopped burning. He was trying to sound casual, uncaring. But it was hard to focus when his voice was so raspy.

Keith looked over eyebrows raised. “And I thought you were paying attention. I was using my techniques, obviously. I went before you guys so your teachers could see what I’m capable of. So I wouldn’t have known how to do things your way.”

So Keith wouldn’t be so stellar at the things Lance  _ was  _ good at then? Okay, that did help to hear. Didn’t mean Lance could get overconfident though. Keith was a natural and would catch on quickly. Lance had always worked twice as hard as everyone else. It wasn’t going to stop now.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith have their first one-on-one session.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for a binging episode. It's extremely non-graphic as I intend this piece to be although the more anorexic-type tendencies may be much more blatant. I apologize for this but well, it IS literally a story about eating disorders and is meant to help me deal with mine so.   
> If you would like to skip the binging scene it starts at "Pidge kept shooting Lance looks throughout the entire meal"  
> and ends at "Alright, everyone stop."  
> I didn't really intend for him to have a scene like this so early on but he kind of took the reigns and I was really struggling when I was writing the scene so. It just happened.   
> Basically, Lance's envy of Keith's ability to eat whatever and still be perfect sets him off and Pidge walks in on him. She doesn't realize what's happening but does find what he's eating to be weird. She tries to talk to him, but he shrugs her off so she leaves.

Keith may be a grossly talented dancer, but he was a filthy liar. It took very little time for Keith to catch on to their way of doing things. So obviously, Lance was just thrilled to death at the prospect of their weekly one-on-one sessions. They were supposed to learn from each other. However, if Keith was already caught up and Lance would need two years and body alterations to be at Keith’s current level, what was the point?. Lance might as well not even show up. He’d just embarrass himself. 

“No, I’m not going.” Lance shook his head, flopping back on his bed. 

“You did not just do all those warm-ups because you weren’t going,” Pidge pointed critically from him to the mat on the floor with her protein bar. 

“Maybe I just wanted-” Lance began to defend himself.

“Okay, but think about it. Smythe matched you two up for a reason. He wouldn’t have done it if he thought you couldn’t keep up with Keith.” Hunk reasoned, nudging Lance over to sit down next to him.

“Oh, really? And what am I supposed to do? Go up to that prick and ask him to share his wisdom? No way. He’s my rival, I can’t do that. They can’t just pair up the two top students. They never had James work with me.” Lance crossed his arms. 

“Lance, you know I love you, but you sound pretty cocky right now. It’s never a bad opportunity to learn something, even with someone you’re competing with. Besides, if you learn nothing, at least you still have a connection. And they didn’t pair you with James because the one time they tried to have you two duet, you nearly killed each other.” 

Lance sighed dramatically. “Alright! Fine. But if Keith turns out as bad as James, just know I’ll haunt both your asses.”

Keith was finishing his warm-ups when Lance got there. While he was waiting, Lance did a few basic stretches so he wasn’t standing there awkwardly. Keith wandered over to the center of the room and away from the barre he’d been stretching on. Lance rolled his shoulders before joining him.

“So what’s the plan, Mullet?” Lance asked, trying to stand still and not rock back and forth on the balls of his feet. People found that annoying. 

“I want to see what you dance like solo. Do you have any pieces you could show me? It doesn’t have to be particularly long,” Keith folded his arms over his torso.

Lance grit his teeth. Keith just expected him to think of something off the top of his head and be prepared? Right.  _ Learning opportunity, learning opportunity… _

“Give me a second,” Lance frowned, pulling his phone out of his bag and slipping his dance shoes on while he was at it. He had to scroll through some of his old dance tracks for a few minutes before he found something he was pretty sure he remembered well enough. Keith helped him hook his phone up to the stereo. Lance let the song play through once to jog his memory, going over the steps in his head, then nodded at Keith to start it over.

Keith watched him run through the dance and had him do a couple more. He was quiet the entire time and his sharp eyes were putting Lance on edge. He felt a little bit like a domesticated animal at the whim of its owner. If Keith had him perform like a circus animal one more time while he stood there all judgy-

“Okay, not bad. I can definitely see where you could improve on…” Keith trailed off at Lance’s bristling. 

“What’s that supposed to mean, exactly?” Lance should have known. He  _ knew  _ he was nowhere near good enough. 

“You’re too much in your head. It’s making your movements stiff and, and,” Keith paused for a moment, thinking, “less confident.” Before Lance could retort angrily, Keith continued. “What’s ballet about?”

“Excuse me?” 

“What is ballet about?” Keith repeated.

“I don’t know. Discipline?” Lance shrugged, growing more frustrated by the moment. Keith had never struck him as a teacher-y type. Where was this even coming from?

Keith shook his head. “No. Well, yeah, I guess. However, it’s also about emotion, story-telling. You’re so focused on being  _ technically  _ perfect, it really detracts from your performance.” 

Lance mimicked Keith’s crossed-arms pose. “Yeah? And what do you propose I do about it?” 

“Do you only ever dance ballet?” 

“Uh, it’s a  _ ballet  _ school, Mullet.” Lance snorted.

Keith’s eyes narrowed, but then he took a deep breath and seemed to relax again, “When was the last time you danced for fun, something not ballet?”

“I don’t know, when I was... twelve, maybe? Not including the twins’  _ quinceanera _ and a few weddings… What’s your point?” 

“I’d like you to do something new. Any kind of dance you like, it just can’t be ballet.” Keith said decisively. 

“What? You’re giving me homework?” Lance was flabbergasted.

“Well, I’m not exactly going to make you do it. Look, Lance… we’re supposed to be helping each other but if you don’t care-” Keith’s eyes were narrowing again and his nostrils flaring slightly. 

“Helping each other? All you’re doing… You haven’t even  _ done-  _ just ordered me Do you always warm up before bossing people around?” Lance floundered a little in his anger. 

Keith raised his eyebrows and shook his head, “Fine.”

Lance’s phone was ripped unceremoniously off the speaker and tossed onto Lance’s bag. Keith replaced it with his own and a fast-paced track started, something definitely not ballet or even classical. When the lyrics kicked in, Lance almost laughed, would have if he wasn’t still mad. Keith definitely hadn’t struck him as a K-Pop fan. Pidge was going to love this.

Keith got into it almost right away. Everything was high-speed and complicated with none of the perfect lines Lance was used to. The moves looked mostly hip-hop and Keith was doing pretty well. Definitely nowhere near as good as his ballet skills, but also nowhere near bad. Keith started getting in Lance’s space, a clear challenge in his eyes. When Keith was finished all that frustration that had been radiating off of him was gone and he was just breathing hard and grinning. 

“So, what? You want me to bust out some hip hop or something? Because K-Pop isn’t exactly my style, Mullethead.” 

“You’re really fixated on my hair, aren’t you?” Keith smirked, running a hand through it.

“Can you blame me? It’s ridiculous, dude.” Lance shook his head. 

“No, I’m not asking you for hip hop. Just do something you like, that you don’t have to focus too much on,” Keith responded finally, apparently deciding to not pick a fight about the mullet. Probably because he’d  _ lose.  _ Keith’s eyes scanned him again and it made Lance’s skin crawl. “Maybe try… something kind of similar to ballet, same fluidity, but involves more hip movements?”

Lance snickered, “Like belly dancing?” 

“If that does it for you,” Keith shrugged but looked amused.

“I guess I’ll take that under advisement, teach.”

***

Lance tried to work off the leftover prickly annoying feeling in the gym. Normally a decent work out left him weary, put him in a headspace of nice buzzing silence. No matter how much cardio he tried that day managed it, however. It was frustrating because he couldn’t even pinpoint what about Keith upset him so much. 

Hunk found him driving himself into the ground on the cycle and managed to drag him off to lunch. It wasn’t until the moment he saw Hunk that he even realized it was a bad day. Sometimes the realization was enough to push him to make an effort to improve it, take time for self-care or something. There wasn’t much room in his head for a desire to feel better, though. At lunch, he could barely engage in his friends’ conversations and had no energy to stifle the swelling bitterness when Keith sat down with them. Why couldn’t Keith just get his own friends? 

Pidge kept shooting Lance looks throughout the entire meal, but his eyes stayed glued on Keith stupid bento box. How could he carbo-load like that all the time? Lance was in the gym every day but one a week and he’d never even seen Keith even enter the place. Yet, somehow, Keith had the perfect body type. 

A dark, intrusive image shot through Lance’s head as he glared at Keith eating that junk. He badly wanted to jump the table and stab Keith in the jugular with his fork, steal his naturally tiny little, muscular body for himself. Live out the rest of his life in Keith’s body and never have to work until near collapse ever again. Fed up, Lance snapped the lid to his salad back on and tried to exit the cafeteria without looking absolutely murderous.

“Was the peer class really so horrendous?” Pidge insisted, barging into Lance’s room without knocking.

Panic stirred in his stomach at the prospect of being caught with a bag of potato chips. Or maybe it was just the box of granola bars he’d torn through minutes earlier finally ready to make a reappearance. Either way, he swallowed it down and managed a shrug, crunching down on another potato chip so he wouldn’t try to bite through his tongue. 

Pidge huffed at Lance’s lack of response and held up one of Lance’s favorite FPS games. It was a recent development in their friendship, a very important joint interest. Unfortunately, Lance was in no mood. 

“Maybe tomorrow? Sorry. I think I just need some sleep.”

Pidge nodded and started to walk back through his door before pausing and glancing over her shoulder at him. “You having a salt crave or something? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat chips.”

“Happens when I’m emotional,” Lance gave her a weak smile, hoping she wouldn’t read too deeply into that slip-up. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back to normal Lance-y Lance tomorrow. Just a bout of petty jealousy, no big.”

“Alright.” Pidge seemed to buy his bull. 

The moment she was gone, his nausea tripled and he couldn’t help but feel relieved at his luck with timing. 

****

 

“Alright, everyone stop,” Miss Brooks shook her head as she scanned the room. She was in an especially foul mood today and every misstep only made it that much worse. 

“I recognize it’s only the second week into the semester but I have  _ never  _ seen an entire class so out of shape. Not a single one of you can afford to waste any more time like you clearly had over the break. I want to see all of you putting in extra hours in the studio. I’ll make sure there are at least three reserved for the next two weeks, so absolutely no excuses.”

After being dismissed, the class filed dejectedly out. Lance moved to follow, but Hunk caught his arm. 

“Hey, I know you’ve been stressed out trying to get back into the swing of everything but um…” Hunk bit his lip as if just speaking out loud was talking him out of whatever he wanted to ask.

“Dude, I’m good, seriously. Let’s go find out if a studio is open. Miss Brooks will definitely be pleased to see you immediately taking her advice.” Lance grinned at his friend and linked their arms to guide him outside.

They spent a couple of hours getting Hunk back on track. While Hunk warmed down, Lance started trying to put together a routine for Keith’s dumbass assignment. He’d spent the entire night researching different kinds of dances, trying to come up with something he thought wouldn’t embarrass him. Eventually, he just watched youtube choreographies until he found something he could manage.

Lance hooked up his phone and let the video play for the first couple of seconds, noting what the dancers were doing before pausing it and trying to mimic it. About halfway through this process (without much luck), he noticed Hunk laughing at him in the mirror. Lance faltered before turning around. 

“What’s so funny?”

“Isn’t this a vine song?” Hunk snickered, at least having the decency to look apologetic for messing Lance up. 

Lance grinned and nodded, moving through the song to the chorus. “Recognize it?”

“Yeah, yeah… I just can’t remember which vine it is.” Hunk said, brow furrowing.

In the name of helping a friend out, Lance started the chorus again and threw his head back and forth with more energy with each word, face contorting into wild expressions as he did so. Hunk laughed harder, nodding emphatically. 

“I totally forgot about that one, oh my God! No, I meant the one at the beginning you know the one…” Hunk said, waving his hands to try to jog  Lance’s memory.

“Oh! You mean ‘anything for you Beyoncé,’ Lance cackled, imitating that one too. 

When they calmed down and Lance had put his phone back, Hunk asked about the assignment. Lance did his best to keep his emotions about Keith out of it but he’d never been particularly skilled at hiding strong feelings for a person. 

“Okay, okay. Maybe I could help? The second pair of eyes might make it easier for you to get these steps down.” 

So they practiced until Lance was pretty sure he’d never be able to hear that vine again without wanting to throw his phone out a window. Which was a shame because he basically worshipped Beyoncé. At the very least, he could get through most of it now without having to stop every couple seconds to see the steps again. Within the next couple of days maybe he might even be able to impress Keith with it.

Probably not, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry that I've been dead for months. Frankly, I don't have a good excuse since I dropped out of college in February. I've literally only been working. My motivation's been terribly low and I've just been ping-ponging between stories trying to get a sentence written on each one. Hopefully, I'll be more consistent. I intend to have an update out every week. No specific day, though. Also sorry that this chapter is small and not a lot happens. I got really stuck with it (and literally every other project I've been working on. Massive writer's block). I haven't even had someone edit it yet so it's still in the garbage stages. I promise once it has been cleaned up to repost the improved version.   
> On the bright side, instead of working on literally any of my stories, I made a Spotify playlist for most of them. The one for this one can be found here:  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3bC55XipMLmqnCzplCdRGL  
> It'll likely change some as my ideas for the plot change so don't get too attached lol. I did spend several hours making it so I hope you guys like it. There are several hints in it for where I'm going with this. Warning, since this is an ED fic, there are some ED songs on this! Please listen with caution if you find that triggering.  
> Oh, and don't worry. I'll be posting the link for the dance Lance does in the next chapter!  
> Hope you guys are having a fantastic summer!!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated. They inspire me to update and keep going. Feedback also helps me improve so I love it.  
> I will also never say no to fanart. You know. Just saying. I will definitely link it if you draw me anything.   
> Thank you for reading and have a fantastic day folks. I'll try to update soon. <3


End file.
